Google Assistant

Smart speakers are used in many households for controlling smart lighting products. Currently, one of the most popular smart lighting options, Philips Hue, can’t be connected to Google Assistant due to a bug, but thankfully, both companies are at least aware of the problem that takes away the ability for Google Home to control the smart lights.

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Launched last year, the Google Assistant Updates feed is a spiritual successor to Google Now dedicated to showing calendar events, where you last parked, and more. This “visual snapshot” of your day has just gained a “Resume your podcast” Assistant card.

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Samsung makes some of the best smartwatches for Android users, but they lack a lot of the Google apps that make alternatives more appealing. What’s especially a shame is the lack of Google Assistant, with Samsung’s less capable Bixby in its place. Now, though, there’s a way to install Google Assistant on a Samsung Galaxy Watch and other Samsung models. Here’s how.

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On July 16th, 1969, NASA successfully launched a mission to bring astronauts to the moon, and 50 years later, we’ve just passed the anniversary of that historic event. To celebrate, the US Navy has developed a new Google Assistant game called “Journey to the Moon” which plays real audio recordings and takes you through the process of the lunar launch.

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Over the past several Google app releases, we’ve been tracking a Google Assistant Ambient Mode. With the latest beta on Friday, we now have our first early look at the always-on display feature.

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It emerged yesterday that Google hires people to transcribe Assistant queries from Home and other smart devices. The company today described the practice as “critical” to bringing Assistant to other languages, while promising an investigation into the leak of customer data.

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A report from a Belgian network, VRT, has uncovered how Google is using human subcontractors to help transcribe and improve its Assistant speech-recognition systems around the globe and how this could be a privacy concern (via BoingBoing).

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Gestures are the clear focus of Android Q Beta 5, and Google Assistant sees a lot of attention in this update as well. One subtle change Android Q makes is to show new instructive prompts when a user starts to open the Assistant either with a gesture or the Pixel’s Active Edge feature.

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When Android Q’s fully gestural navigation system first debuted, one of the things we didn’t know was how Google intended to have us launch Assistant. That later became clear, and now in Android Q Beta 5, Google is making it more obvious how to launch Assistant with a couple of gesture “handles.”

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In addition to a slew of user-facing Assistant features at I/O 2019, another way Google is improving the experience of using Google Home and Nest Displays is through the Local Home SDK. This new local technology will deliver faster commands to your smart home accessories.

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One of the most exciting reveals of Google I/O was the “next generation Assistant” which answered queries instantly and back-to-back. Now, it appears Google is getting ready to lay the groundwork for that Assistant with a new compact interface which is being tested with some users.

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Truly wireless earbuds have exploded in popularity over the past couple of years, but one feature they often lack is active noise cancellation. Today, Sony has debuted its new truly wireless WF-1000XM3 earbuds with active noise cancellation and Google Assistant built in.

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Did you know that you can add your favorite podcasts to your Google Home routines? Amazing, isn’t it? What is more amazing is that you might not have known this little tidbit.

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As confirmed last week, Google Assistant is finally coming to Sonos speakers after being delayed last year. A software update rolling out today will allow users to say “Hey Google” to issue commands, ask questions, and control their Assistant smart home on the Sonos One and Sonos Beam.

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Last October, we discovered that Google intended for the new Google Assistant experience on Chrome OS to arrive on “all Chromebooks.” Eight months later, we’re finally seeing the fruit of this, as Google is enabling Assistant for all devices starting with Chrome OS 77.

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Since its availability in August 2017 in France, Google Assistant has had two hotwords: The well-known “Okay Google”, and “Dis Google” (meaning “Say Google”). Google has now announced support of the “Hey Google” hotword support in France for the beginning of July.

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Google Assistant is super powerful, and it’s only going to get better with some of Google’s latest work. However, the move from Google Now saw a bunch of useful features ditched entirely. Now, Google Assistant is reviving a handy feature that remembers where you parked.

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In addition to a new Driving Mode that replaces Android Auto on phones, Google at I/O 2019 announced that Assistant is coming to Waze. Google Assistant in Waze for Android is now beginning to roll out in the U.S.

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